Kesha is an artist known for her wild and raucous party anthems and her neverending positive spirit. More recently, she’s also become known as an artist who has the strength and courage to stand up to the man who abused and sexually assaulted her. Last year Kesha was fighting her producer Dr. Luke in court, trying to sever ties with him after years of what she called an abusive relationship where he belittled and insulted her to the point of developing an eating disorder, threatened her and her family and drugged and raped her repeatedly. That she could come back with such a triumphant album in Rainbow and first single is amazing, especially after she lost in court. With Rainbow, Kesha is positioning herself to join artists like Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lorde, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez in the top level of female pop artists making music this summer.
Obviously a huge highlight is her first single since the Dr. Luke trial, “Praying.” Clearly referencing the tribulations she’s been through and where she wants to go from here, it’s not just a pop anthem, it’s a manifesto.
In “Praying” she’s singing for everyone who’s been emotionally, physically, mentally and sexually abused. She’s owning the truth, she’s owning herself, she’s taking back her life from the man who tried to take it away from her. It’s forgiving, vindictive, proud and optimistic at the same time. It’s complicated, like the singer, like healing from trauma. This is a comeback album for Kesha, and she’s not ashamed of that. There’s always been a theme of refusing to be ashamed of who you are in her music, and with this album and songs like “Praying” she continues that theme and brings it to a deeper level. She’s above the abuse that Dr. Luke spewed at her, as much as he made her hate herself, she loves herself so much more now. She wants us to be able to say the same thing.
There are plenty of great upbeat classic Kesha songs, including the two songs right after the opening track. “Let ‘Em Talk” has driving drum beats and the lines “Shake that ass/Don’t care if they talk about it,” “life is short and we got only one shot/so let’s go balls out and give it all we got” and my favorite, “I’ve decided all the haters everywhere can suck my dick!” My personal favorite of the more rowdy songs, “Woman,” features the Dap Kings Horns and will probably become my new karaoke song. All I want to do is sing “I’m a motherfuckin woman!/baby that’s right/I’m just having fun with my ladies tonight/I’m a motherfucker!” The song that perhaps sounds most like her older music is the dance punk track “Boogie Shoes,” a song about shaking your ass and having a great time.
The album also has plenty of great country pop songs, like the Dolly Parton duet “Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You),” the opening number “Bastards,” “Hunt you Down” and one of my other favorites, the sexy, fun and supremely danceable “Boots.” I love that Kesha has been able to find her voice on this album; you can see clear influences in her music and songwriting, like Parton and punk rock, that weren’t necessarily as obvious in her previous Dr. Luke-produced hits. Kesha is a brilliant songwriter and a brilliant artist and this, her first album without Dr. Luke, is the highlight of her career so far.
My number one favorite song on this album is absolutely the title track. The first time I heard “Rainbow” I was sobbing. As women we so often are told by society and the patriarchy and by our abusers that we’re not as good as we were before, that we’re ruined, unworthy. Kesha’s songs are a direct challenge to that; they’re a rallying cry for survivors and victims and all of us. From a lesser artist the lyrics “I used to live in the darkness,” “now I see the magic inside of me,” “darling, our scars make us who we are,” would be cliché and trite. I mean, there’s already a song that famously asks “why are there so many songs about rainbows?” But what Kesha brings to this song elevates it to another level. It is schlock, but it’s the best kind, the kind that brings us to tears and makes our hearts swell. She’s not singing about hypothetical scars and pain; she’s singing about finding strength and love inside and outside of herself after years of working with a predator and years of him controlling her career and life. She’s not subtly hinting at where she’s been or where she’s going, she’s being open and up front about it. It’s got the desperate earnestness of a confession, the tenderness of sharing a secret with your best friend and the raw emotion and heart of a bridesmaid’s speech, graduation speech and eulogy put together.
There’s this thing that pop culture critics and people who are much smarter, wiser and more knowledgeable than me say. They say that pop stars and media and products aren’t our friends, they aren’t feminists, they’re things being sold to us, they’re the result of marketing and capitalism. And that’s true. But I also do think that a pop song can be feminist and an album can be your friend, and I think that Kesha’s Rainbow is those things. I’m embracing the things that make me feel strong and loved and special and empowered. I think it’s important that we focus on being genuine and open and full of heart, especially right now. While Kesha is dancing around the stage, she’s not dancing around her feelings or pain or struggles or desires. She’s laying her heart bare on the floor with this album, and her heart is the most beautiful rainbow I’ve ever seen.
Thank you, Mey, for sharing these beautiful songs with us
It also features a love song about Godzilla, so that’s relatable for me.
But seriously, this is a lovely album that makes me feel like I’m good enough and that my bad past can fuck right off.
Profile picture checks out
Suddenly I need to know the opposite proverbial idiom of “the pot calling the kettle black” you creepy salt shaker of a cyborg you.
Comment award needed for this thread
Love Kesha and you couldn’t have expressed better why this album is so good and relatable.
I never thought an album could make me feel so much better—fun, dance songs included. It’s a good reminder that victimhood is complicated. Often we’re broken down to a victim vs survivor, suffering vs over-it dichotomy… something I’ve struggled with. This album didn’t just make me feel better about having been a victim, but also made me feel okay that I CONTINUE to feel like one, and reminded me that that’s not all I am. Thank you thank you thank you Kesha!
I love this album a lot, and I really appreciate this review.
Rainbow is absolutely the highlight of her career so far. I’m so proud of her for coming out of the legal battle with Dr. Luke to give us 12 pure songs of danceable Area 51 folk.
14 songs, lol
I guess it is 12 considering her mom wrote Old Flames back in the day, and Godzilla, adorably.
For me it was fact I loved the darkness, didn’t want to put those colors on that made ruined and unworthy. I still don’t like a lot of color in my clothes, but the past is behind me I don’t try to be a cute soft approachable girl I only try to be me for me.
Sometimes that’s a person with flowers woven into their braids, but most of the time it’s a person in black and lots of grays.
Abusers try to mold you into theirs and the best medicine is to be as much yours as you fucking can, what ever hues that may be. Sometimes that takes work and time to find but it is so fucking worth it cheries.
Mey, thank you for bringing this Rainbow song into my life. It reminds me of where I’ve been and makes me want to dance.
Where is the mention of Hymn? It’s such a good song, and it really spoke to me in such a queer way – “If we die before we wake, who we are is no mistake,” “Yeah we keep on sinning, yeah we keep on singing”
It really feels to me like an anthem for all the rejected and lost lgbt+ kids and it hits me right in the feelings.
Hymn is absolutely one of my favorite songs right now. Every time I listen to it I just want to hold up a lighter and sway. It hits me in the feelings, too <3
Y E S. I’m so proud of Kesha for walking through what she has, and for being a beautiful, vulnerable beacon for those that still walk in darkness. I too, sobbed through the title track, Rainbow the first 5+ times I listened to it. I’m probably being completely corny and over-sincere, but there you have it. Rainbow is going to be my anthem for reclaiming my life. Put those colors on, girl.
love love LOVE this album <3 and this thoughtful and heartfelt review!
Honestly, this album is the best thing that’s happened all year. As an abuse survivor I am just floored at her strength and the pure gold she’s produced with this album. “Learn to Let It Go” and especially its video are hitting me hard right now. I’ve been dissociating for a long time and blocked out a lot of my childhood, and lately I’ve been going through these big tubs of childhood pictures I’d forgotten. I’ve got all these memories coming back to me and it’s so emotional and so healing… and then the video came out for “Learn To Let It Go” and I just lost my shit because it was exactly what I’m going through right now and the recreation of her home movies and the dancing and the fuzzy memory quality just knocked the wind out of me in the best way.
Also, the line from Rainbow “what’s left of my heart’s still made of gold” was the moment I started crying and has summed up everything I feel all at once and Kesha is my favorite person in the world right now.
Beautiful review Mey – I want to highlight like half of it, but I’ll restrain myself.
“It is schlock, but it’s the best kind, the kind that brings us to tears and makes our hearts swell.”
“But I also do think that a pop song can be feminist and an album can be your friend, and I think that Kesha’s Rainbow is those things. I’m embracing the things that make me feel strong and loved and special and empowered.”
I did not expect to be in tears by the end of the Prayer video – at the first line, I was ready to start rolling my eyes, but then it hooked me. Wow.
YES since praying came out I knew this album would be INCREDIBLE and it IS and I listen to it like every day because every song is incredible.
Hymn I think is my number one fave, I love when she says “I know that I’m perfect even though I’m fucked up” it feels really powerful every time. Like fuck you, I’m gonna love myself and know I’m exactly where I’m meant to be regardless of the stuff I’ve gone through and how it has affected me.
I also LOVE that she worked so closely with her mom on it?? Her mom wrote Godzilla and Old Flames for Dolly Parton and I love old Kesha music (except for a few of the really cringey ones….looking at you “grow a pear”) but this album really feels like she’s been able to speak to her influences and do what she loves and be weird and country and in love and fun.
TL;DR I’M SO PROUD OF KESHA
also @Mey “Boots” and “Woman” are some of my faves too!!
I’d only listened to her pop singles before, but I just streamed “Rainbow” with my library’s Freegal subscription. The whole album is solid and worth listening to over and over again. I love that she had a duet with Dolly Parton, too! It’s hard to pick a favorite song, but the old school country feel of “Hunt You Down”. Way to go, Kesha! I’m glad you’re finding a way to not let the bastards keep you down.